July 12, 2026

Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham died Sunday from sudden cardiac illness at his Capitol Hill home. Emergency personnel responded to a call for cardiac arrest.

Graham spent 27 years in the Senate and held real power over Republican spending and defense priorities. His vacancy forces Gov. Henry McMaster to appoint a successor; Trump says he has a preference but won't name it yet.

US military conducted strikes on Iranian targets Sunday. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on US military facilities across the Gulf, claiming closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane for global oil.

The interim peace deal that wobbled for weeks just officially collapsed. With Iranian forces confirmed wounded and strategic waterways under claimed Iranian control, this is now an open conflict with supply-chain consequences.

The Pentagon completed a third successive wave of strikes on Iranian targets as the escalation cycle tightened.

Three rounds in one weekend signals sustained operations, not a one-off. Neither side has shown signs of backing off.

Declassified Pentagon documents describe a massive two-tiered unidentified craft seen near a Texas nuclear weapons facility, witnessed by a veteran aviator who said it was 'unlike anything' in his 28-year career.

The Pentagon is releasing UFO files. A 28-year air force veteran with no incentive to lie said he'd never seen it before. The craft was over a nuclear weapons base. That's the story.

Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned the US that 'the era of one-sided deals is OVER' and told the US to maintain its end of the interim peace agreement or face consequences.

The threat came after the US strikes, not before—which means Iran views the deal as already broken. This is rhetoric matching the military escalation.

Iran's new supreme leader and President Trump exchanged public warnings after the weekend military exchanges, with both sides signaling no immediate de-escalation.

When heads of state move to public threat-trading on the weekend, private channels have either failed or aren't being used. This is the diplomatic equivalent of checking your phone in front of someone.

The largest housing bill in years became law without the President's signature—meaning Trump neither backed nor actively blocked it. Congress acted on its own.

A bipartisan housing bill is rare enough; one that passes without presidential theater is rarer. Both sides get to claim credit, and the White House didn't need to spend political capital to kill it.

Trump told NBC the US 'bombed the hell out of them last night,' claiming 140 Iranian targets struck in the latest round. Iran simultaneously attacked US facilities across the Gulf.

The casualty count and actual damage remain unknown. Both sides are announcing strikes; neither is releasing damage assessments. That asymmetry usually means someone is overstating what they hit.